NBC Olympics has surpassed $1 billion in advertising for the Beijing Olympic Games. NBCU’s Olympic sales received a boost from its primetime coverage of the U.S. Olympics Trials for Swimming, Gymnastics and Track & Field, which saw ratings increases over 2004 and featured performances from marquee athletes such as Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Tyson Gay and Shawn Johnson. Advertisers also have noted the recent stellar ratings for the U.S. Open and Wimbledon on NBC, as well as the Super Bowl.
The Beijing Games begin today with the Opening Ceremony at the recently announced early start time of 7:30 p.m. ET/PT, and continue through Sunday, Aug. 24. For complete listings and schedule information log onto NBCOlympics.com.
NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 11th Olympics and surpassing ABC for the most Olympics broadcast by any network, will present an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Beijing Olympic Games coverage, the most ambitious single media project in history. NBCU’s unprecedented Olympics coverage features the most live coverage in the United States (nearly 2,900 live hours in total), across the most platforms, of any Summer Olympics in history when the Games of the XXIX Olympiad commence on Friday.
The 3,600 total hours of coverage on seven NBC Universal networks: NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen, Telemundo and Universal HD, as well as NBCOlympics.com, is 1,000 hours more than the combined coverage for every televised Summer Olympics in U.S. history (Rome 1960 – Athens 2004, 2,562 hours). NBCOlympics.com will feature approximately 2,200 total hours of live streaming Olympic broadband video coverage, the first live online Olympic coverage in the United States.
NBC, America’s Olympic Network, holds the exclusive U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2012, which includes Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
